The Phrasebook of Annalee (KotOR)
by SkyeofStars
Summary: You know how people always use that phrase? That one phrase or joke that just seems offensive or hateful to you, and only you for some reason? "It happened in a blink." is the one for me. Why? You wouldn't believe me if I told you.


"It happened in a blink."

FYI: ** = Time skip

Hey everyone! ^-^ Sooo, I wrote a story on here a while back and ended up deleting it(I'm so sorry if you minded! Dx) in the middle. But hopefully you'll like this one. Thanks!

You know how people always use that phrase? That one phrase or joke that just seems offensive or hateful to you, and only you for some reason? "It happened in a blink." is the one for me. What? That's weird. No, "That's retarted!" or "Are you blind?" Yeah, well, weird was the story of my life. Not up until today though. Until today every aspect of my life was normal. No flashes, all blinks. Yay for me. No, really though. I was pretty happy just sitting around, minding my own business that day. Well, mostly anyways. I suspect sticking my nose where it didn't belong never helped me. So, I guess that's where this story starts. The day that I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. Like always.

A few cold tingling drops pelted my head and I glanced to my friend, pulling a face. She threw her arms up to the sky, yelling in an overdramatic voice that brought a few umbrella wielding pedestrians around us to a standstill, "Why must the Rain Gods do this to us? What's your problem with us, huh? Whyyyyyyyy-OWH!" A sharp smacking sound mercifully shut out her announcing voice as my hand flew to her mouth. I jumped back a few feet when something warm and moist slid across it.

"Oh, gross! Really, Natalie, really?" I wiped my hand on her band t-shirt against her struggling before I took another step behind, back under the veranda that was above the sidewalk we were loitering on. She stuck her tongue out at me and I grimaced, yanking her by her hand back out of the rain. "So immature." I spat with a frown. She crossed her arms, leaning back against the glass of a café and stared at the constant stream of people on the sidewalk ahead of us. The café behind her showed rows of comfy white square tables with cheap black chairs lined against walls, and a strip of black bar area in the middle that ran the entire length of the place and included a tiny box television mounted on the wall in the left corner. It was flicked on to ESPN or something. The walls were a soft red color, like burgundy, and the front wall was made of glass with cursive letters titled, "Raze Café"

"So judgemental! Wait, scratch that. Hypocritical's the word." She tilted her head to me with a small smile, lax cinnamon eyes just daring me to get mad, "Besides, come on, I have every right to be angry with whatever makes it rain every-single-time we leave your aunt's shop! It's been hours! What am I supposed to tell Derek, that it just so happens I can't make it to our second date…For the third time now?"

"You could always tell him the Rain God of Jealously has been bombarding your dates to the park because he's madly in love with you and-" My aunt's strong and commanding voice broke into our conversion the same time as the café bells jingled on the see through door.

"Who's madly in love with who?" She asked in bewilderment, pushing the door out further to reveal her entire body. She was a slightly plump-not gigantic, just a bit overweight-woman with dark, curly hair pulled into a bun. I didn't look anything like her, what with my long loose flame red hair that had bangs and the freckles splashed under my pale blue eyes. Natalie laughed, saying hi, then slipped her hand into her black skinny jeans, past her metal studded belt, to retrieve her iphone. Yeah, her clothing never matched her attitude. I wasn't sure if mine did. I wore old, outdated clothes like corduroys and button up dress shirts or flowered turtlenecks. They were the only thing my aunt really had and I didn't have any kind of job to buy my own clothing even though I was seventeen, but that was cool with me. I hated all those crappy so called fashionable clothes anyway. Natalie, on the other hand, was into "emo" clothing even though she wasn't really emo. She was just crazy, immature, and a bit obnoxious at times. She had short pixie cut bleached blonde hair that her parents wouldn't let her dye raven and she always wore skinny jeans with chains and leather jackets or just all black outfits. She was about two and a half inches shorter than me. She was also more of an hourglass than me. I had a lean and tall physique, at about 5'6. I often patted her head to joke around with her because she hated it so much. It was a wonder we were friends, really. The first year of highschool we were both the outcasts, so we just ended up as friends. Otherwise, I just wouldn't have associated with her. Oh, wait. I forgot about my aunt Lena. She then ushered the two of us back inside to sit in the barstools while I explained that nobody was madly in love with anybody except for Nat. I sighed at the warmth and light as I fell into the padded round chair, forgetting about the suddenly very rain and thunder and lightning filled outdoors as my best friend texted back and forth excitedly with her boyfriend. At the time I was just sitting there uninterested because every time I brought something up my friend would take a few seconds more than the last time to respond. I was used to boredom, but I'd always been active. Rainy days just depressed me and uninterested me to death. No soccer practice, taekwondo, no café work, not even black and white television shows with Lena. Which I somehow really liked. I Love Lucy in particular. Nobody was even in the place except for one lonely guy being served hot coffee and lemon cake by worker bee Lena. I took a closer look at the guy in the far right corner, raising an eyebrow. The guy had on a black trench coat and a white button up. Like ultra-formal attire right there. He seemed to be mid-thirties in age and his black hair was slicked with gel or something. The lemon cake held his utmost attention at the moment.

"I'll be right back Natalie." She nodded, fingers flying across her keyboard again as I made my way to the seat next to my only boredom antidote. Wanna know why I hopped right onto that seat?

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like the Phantom of the Opera before he took off his mask? Free of the disfigurement though." Sad, really. I now hate the Phantom of the Opera and his look-alike, but really, at the time, I couldn't resist. I was always a straight to the point kinda woman. Or I liked to think that, at least. The man looked up at me with a jerky motion of his head, pursing his lips as he swallowed his icing.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Hah! You even sound a bit like him. Well, except for the British accent." A grin tugged at my lips, "You know, in the two thousand and four version? I couldn't find the older one." His look of confusion made me shift in my seat and I held out a hand after a moment's pause, mistaking his thoughts, "Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Annalee Raze. What's yours?" He examined my hand with narrowed eyes before shaking it firmly, and then swiveling in his seat, dropping his eyes to a backpack.

"That isn't important. Perhaps…Would you mind taking this survey, please?" He procured a pack of a few papers from a bag on his chair. I raised an eyebrow.

"Alrightie, then. No problem. I haven't got anything else to do." I grabbed the pen and clipboard he thrust at me, ignoring his desperate look as I filled out questions about my hobbies, interests, favorite games, food, physical info etc. After I'd filled it out and watched as he scanned over it, I leaned forward on the counter using my elbows, trying to signal my absorbed best friend to me with my eyes. What a failure. I rounded on the Phantom of the Opera look-alike once a thought popped into my mind.

"What's this survey for anyways? That was kinda brutal when it came to details." The city safe part of me hoped he didn't just want to keep it for himself. He stood abruptly, the fork and plate on the table rattling as he chucked the clipboard down. I had jumped slightly. Natalie finally looked up from her phone and was starting to hurriedly pace over to see what I was doing. "Ah, are you headed somewhere? A ball or party or something?" I hopped to my feet, disliking his height advantage and backpedalled a bit.

"I'm not going anywhere. You, however, had better get a good look at your city of New York before you leave. Sorry to be so abrupt, but trust me, this will only take a second. It'll be like in the movies." Uh, what was that? I thought I heard him say something hinting at kidnap. Or rape. Those were never good signs. Natalie's fingers dug into my wrist, pulling us back a few more steps and toward the left wall. ESPN was still going.

"LENA!" She called over the bar in a quick and frantic burst, to no avail; since my kin was probably upstairs in our little loft doing God knew what. Her phone beeped and she ignored it. The bleach blonde girl stared after the bar a moment longer then became fierce, pushing me back with her once more when the man's gaze became intense as his feet stepped closer to us, "Listen here, buddy, I don't know what medication you forgot to take today, but Annalee isn't going anywhere, so you should jus-!"

As abrupt as a heart attack. A strike of lighting. That's how it was. My whole world stopped as easily and swiftly as these things happen. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button to everything instantaneously. The sound of rain and thunder and the occasional flash of light ceased. It was complete darkness and silence. I couldn't smell the steam of cheap coffee or of tangy lemon. The bar stools and tables, and bar in general were gone. There was no Natalie or Phantom Guy. No bustling about the streets of New York behind me. No TV. All of this for a split second. In the blink of an eye. That was long enough for fear to strike me in the face. In the other split second, it ran me over like a semi.

I was in a dimly lit area, some sort of strange music filling my ears. It was low key and mellow, made of odd instruments that sounded like soft dings such as on an elevator and an accompanying steady drum beat with some sort of brass instrument mixed in. I could feel padding under my butt and swiveled around in a bar stool, starting to feel like I wasn't getting any oxygen to come into my lungs. What, did the Phantom Guy knock me upside the head? Oh, that's right. Phew. I finally took a breath, feeling my shoulders slump. Natalie and I lived in a rough part of the city and school fights were the norm. Mostly when I angered someone or defended another someone could just come up from behind and hit me in the head. I'd been knocked out twice before, and trust me, you have the weirdest dreams. I was seeing a Cantina from KotOR presently, if I remembered correctly, this was the one in the Under City…Or Lower City? Yeah, lower. It was kind of dingy and had a musty, alcoholic smell along with a hint of iron to it. The place was made of what looked like metal with a low ceiling and the only bright thing being neon signs hanging over each doorway. It felt kind of chilly in the area and I folded my arms. A low murmur of chatter also finally wormed its way into my head. This was weird...I hadn't played that old game in forever because I got it when I was younger and just lost interest once I'd beat it. I scanned my surroundings, checking out each adjoining room, the one with the band, the dueling ring, etc. A few aliens would go past my vision every once in a while. Hm, well. This was odd indeed. I swiveled to look for the entryway with the table behind me and came face to face with a dark skinned generic male character.

"Wha-?!" My fist flew forward before I could stop it and he took a step back, my white knuckles only an inch from his nose. I apologized, astonished, while I dropped my hand to my lap, feeling my heart thrash in my chest. He clapped slowly, yelling slightly over the noise with a tiny smile, and a familiar British accent.

"Great going! There I thought I was going to really get it handed to me, but then you showed up in the cafe. Of all the odds! I have to give it to you, you're a fighter. One who needs work, yet all the same, a fighter." Hey, I knew that voice! He sounded like the Phantom. He seemed to be genuinely proud, but I was unsure of what and completely unamused of this babble. Especially since it was him. I crossed my arms again as a whoosh of air blew in after the front door snapped shut and scowled. "This is great!"

"What are you talking about? Who are you, anyhow?" He chuckled quietly and made his way to the seat on my left, waving over the bartender and ordering "Corellian Steak" after speaking in a foreign language. When the- oh hey, it was a rodian- rodian disappeared to get food, he turned to me, placing his elbows on the table and raising his eyebrows at me.

"Want anything, dear? Your only chance for on the house."

I tapped a finger against my lips as I leaned against the counter also, glancing at the menu and then back at him. "Hmm, how about a steaming plate of-answers would be nice, please!" I huffed, dropping the act like one would drop a scorching mug of hot chocolate. It was just a dream after all, who cared what I did? But I was still getting frustrated.

"Alright, just try not to resort to flesh-eating or anything of the sort if you decide that you want food later. Yes, you should do alright, Miss. Raze. Coping mechanisms are different, oh you ought to get along with a simple story to your name for quite a while. Not a complete idiot, not a complete social freak, either." He disregarded when I protested the demeaning list he was pulling together. "You have less compassion to enemies than most. You're not bloodthirsty in the slightest. Hm, that could set you up for failure, or perhaps success, depending on the angle you're going for. Though it could come in handy despite what it's used for. You wouldn't try to blend in with the crowd's clothing here, would you? Just not built like that, are we?" I glared. "That's okay, I won't pretend I do it all the time, either. I had made a special effort today, in case you couldn't tell from my attire earlier." He pulled a quick face at his watch, looking mournful as the bartender set down his food and I barred my teeth.

"Hello? Are you answering any of my questions? Wait…Was that a dream, too, then?" My face must've crumpled as my tenacity dropped. What was going on here?

"No, Miss. Raze. This isn't a dream." I suddenly felt hard plating against my skin and pulled an arm up to see light navy blue and silver armor. Oh, that was it. I was done trying to figure things out. I was in KotOR and this guy had pulled me here? It felt real, but nun-unh. Nooo way was I ready to believe that. "You're the one who will be responsible for the outcome here. Not anyone else. Nobody else has been able to do so thus far. I expect you'll get to Dantooine at the least, unlike the last female. Poor broad was killed by a baby rakghoul. Now, go on and give it your all for the first test."

"Test? What are you doing?" No response. "Hold up! Why me?" He tinkered with his watch once more, seeming to twist it around, then brought his gaze to me.

"Go crash someone else's delusion!"

"Good luck! Remember to watch your mouth! It will get you into incomprehensible trouble one day! I'll explain later, by the way. If I spoke of it now my words could tip the scales."

Everything went dark again. My eye twitched.

"It's because I'm a ginger, isn't it? This is a hair thing, huh?!"

I sighed and closed my eyes for a second. Oh, joy. This was the most annoying part. No music, no cantina, nothing. When I woke up, that man would be looking for his head. Maybe he'd find mine on his search. In the next instant, I was in a small, tight space, sitting in a stiff, yet curved chair, facing a control panel that looked like the inside of a rocket ship. Get this though, it was more complex. The area was all-predictably-metal panel. The freaky thing here was that I was seeing things through a dark tinted lens that reminded me of sunglasses, and felt a weighty helmet accompanied by a heavy duty seat belt on me. My thumbs were on some sort of half steering wheel type…thing. A low humming sound was constant. Through the front glass I noted pinpoints of light against vast darkness. Some sort of light bluish glow was radiating below but I took no notice as the rapid pew pew pew sound of blaster fire screeched in my ears, pushing adrenaline through my veins and waking me up with the effectiveness of a live wire. A blur blew past my vision, my visor tracking it with a neon green glowing target symbol as it whooshed past and opened fire on a giant ship in the distance. I gaped, then leaned forward to get a better look, feeling myself propel forward while stars zoomed past me. My head snapped against the dashboard and pain burst through my skull.

"Notcoolnotcoolnotcoooool-!" I cried,

pulling my hands up just in time to witness a red laser-like blaster bolt streaking straight toward me as a fighter came in. It was triangular in shape, narrow toward the front, with a glass dome in it. My eyes darted to the many bright buttons and my finger ran back and forth a few before I finally clicked a random green one to the far left.

"Oh, please work.."

The freighter fire a few times, the blasts screeching in my ears when they came close. A computerized voice announced quietly and calmly.

"Ejection sequence activating in four..three.."

"Oh, God!" I wailed, distressed, my eyes growing wider. "Pleasedon'twork!" I frantically mashed a few different buttons all over the panel with my palm and braced myself against my seat with fingers and feet digging into the padded station while the bolts of fire throttled my ship around. It spun in the air a few times, the ejection sequence aborted mercifully. I shook my head to get rid of the nausea and take in my surroundings once more. A static buzzing started in my ear and then a discordant voice interrupted my panic once I stopped spinning around. I now faced an entire fleet of ships attacking one larger freighter. Another fleet was attacking them. Blaster fire was flying around frantically.

"You!" The sharp, irritated, masculine voice ordered, "Fighter 39Y! What are you doing out there!? You're going to get yourself killed if you keep dillydallying!" I lifted a hand to my ear, activating the button then sharply jerking my steering wheel up so as to avoid a freighter about to smash into me.

"Thank God!" I breathed. "Oh, me? Errrr..I was just warming up, sir. You know us new recruits. Always screwing up." I pressed a red button, trying to activate blaster fire as another ship loomed closely and instead caused the ship to plunge downward for a few terrifying seconds. Luckily, the computer activated an emergency override thing after I went down a few feet and the tiny freighter avoided a stray blaster bolt, seeing as it only skimmed the top. "I'll…you know, have to be more careful in the future!"

"…Hold up! I don't recognize you! What's your name, Fighter 39Y?" Suspicion leaked through his voice, raising the sharpness, and I pushed my freighter forward with a lot of force when someone tried to slam into me from the side. What were these people, kamikaze or something? I supposed that seemed to be my job at the moment, but still!

"Uh, that would be...Screw it." Like I could get a name correct. There wasn't a point in lying to whoever this guy was. "Fine...You got me. If you must know, I'm…Darth Revan. Just don't tell anyone. It's a well-kept secret that I'm actually alive and kicking, or in this case, screaming. If you help me out of this, I could even get you an autograph later." There was silence on his end before my blaster bolt misfired on a missile-type object coming at me. I flew around in a circle, panicking like an idiot and someone else blasted the thing for me. My shoulders slumped.

"Don't mess with me!" I made a face when his words crackled in my ear again. "Now, who is this, really? I will blast you out of the sky if you're a spy. Therefore it's in your best interest not to test me." Two stray streaks of rouge hit my windshield-I didn't know what it really was called- and I rocketed backward. My head snapped back to forward and I rubbed my sore neck as my fingers straightened and brushed hair back out of my face.

"Shields going down." The computerized voice informed me.

"What?! No! Don't leave me! You're the only thing I have!" I beat a fist on a blank space of the panel, feeling betrayed by my only protection leaving me in the open. Another ship highlighted by the now very dreaded green target symbol in my visor soared overheard, making me flip out for a moment.

"Are you even listeni-"

"I'm kinda busy, Tightwad!"

I ripped the tiny black microphone and earbud thing out of my ear to dash it to the metal flooring, smashing it to bits with a foot. Tightwad would never matter to me again. I wouldn't ever think about him from that point on. Even though I could've sworn that it was him who opened fire on me next. I didn't even see the bolts coming, because they hit from behind and no ship was targeted with it, but boy could I feel the shock of it. I was hurtled forward and dropping at the same instant, obnoxious alarms and red lights going off along with piercing beeping sounds that started to run together, a bit like a dying heartbeat on one of those machines, but much more rapid. If the computer was working, I imagined it would tell me I was screwed. I was jerked to the side a good five more times as the blasted ship started to swirl, hair splaying over my eyes and parts of me that weren't secured such as my feet hitting any and every object in the enclosed space. My head banged against the seat head repeatedly. I pushed forward on the half steering wheel-against the force of gravity-and emitted a very pathetic whimper when it didn't work. The planet below-I recognized it as a planet now-was coming in and out of view. I was spiraling up and down suddenly as I plummeted to the orb of light below. It was making me dizzy and I felt as if I could puke when fear's hand seized my throat and punched me in the stomach. I gripped the seatbelt like it was a lifeline; knuckles burning and every muscle in my body becoming rigid. The bluish planet below was getting closer and closer. My cranium was jostled with each flip and rotation of the fighter, the only thing barely keeping me in place was the harness. I could feel my body pushing against even that with an insane amount of force. After what felt like an hour but must've been a minute or two, I was streaking through a light blue atmosphere lit by a sun high in the sky, fearing I would burn up. An urban cityscape was seen when the view screen flipped around for a short second. It was filled to the brim with high buildings and ships. Taris? I could feel tears creep into my eyes. I swallowed the constricting feeling in my throat, finally just shutting my lids, hoping I would wake up from this dream turned nightmare. The impact was so harsh and jarring, I thought I would go deaf from the sound alone. My head surged with pain. My ears rang. A choking smoky odor filled my nose. Glass breaking, metal ripping and tearing against some structure could be heard. Screams. Were they mine? I couldn't make sense of much. It was all overwhelming. All at once. I felt pain all over. Almost everywhere it seemed. Some of it was bearable but some so much more excruciating. This was how I'd always imagined an intense car crash to be. But this? I couldn't help but to vaguely think this was a thousand times worse considering the speed. A few shaky breaths were finally taken through my quivering lips, liquid running down my face. What was it? Tears? Blood? Warm fluid dripped from my mouth and face to fall onto my legs before my head dropped down, suddenly as heavy as a ton of bricks. So much for me being a fighter, Phantom…I managed to think before my conscious thoughts faded.

"Then perhaps you should find another job. Now, get your simpering, incessant self over there and do it! Don't make me tell you a second time or you very well know the consequences! Mercy is a liability." A metal platform rushing toward me finally jolted me wide-awake. I took in a sharp breath and regretted it as pain shot through my ribcage. My cheek was resting against a steel, cold ground and I was curled into a small ball. Some pain was gone, but it felt like I'd broken a rib and my head wouldn't stop throbbing. It felt like someone had put my thighs through a shredder. I could see shiny, silver armor with black soles behind a thin purple, glowing, and humming…force cage. Awh, haaaaail to the no. This made me feel a bit panicky because of the whole four feet of free space thing. Another thing? I was conscious and I was still here. In KotOR. If I was correct, I was in the area of the Sith Base with the lights on the wall that were currently mixed red and green. I trusted they'd stay that way.

"Alright, you've had enough rest for a lifetime. Get up, soldier." The sound of a British accent, (What was up with all of those around here?) oddly resigned and muted words coming through a mask from above prompted me to try to shakily sit up. I winced a few times and dropped my back gingerly against a metal strip in the rear of the force cage, leaning my head back, and then folding my arms against my chest as if to hold it together. My face must've scrunched up in pain because the taller soldier about five feet behind him-That I could actually see now-scoffed.

"A-am I really where I think I am?" I cleared my throat slightly when it came out hoarse.

"He said get up, not sit up! Now, hurry, I've got better places to be." Talk about good cop vs. bad cop. I already hated this guy. He was impatient, rude-not to mention pushy.

"I don't." I muttered, pushing against my legs and feeling little stabs of pain hit me as I slowly removed my hands from the floor. I let my shoulder rest on the metal strip, careful not to hit the electrical field, and shifted all the weight of my legs to my right one. I gripped my ribcage with the other hand. I was trying not to groan by the time I caught my reflection in the Sith's armor. They'd left my armor on, for some reason. They must've figured out that I had no weapons on me. My armor was ripped above the knees, showing long and shallow gashes. That trembling bottom lip of mine had a few tracks of red running from it and I could see it was split in several places. My face was cut above an eyebrow deeply, also bruised in a few spots and the dried blood was crusted all over my forehead and down the side of my face. Ouch. That explained the throbbing head. I must've become weak from blood loss or shock or something. The visor must've broken off too. The helmet was gone, but I had no cuts on my head. No amnesia, or anything either. Just sore spots. My rib? I didn't even want to know. I didn't see anything but it felt like it was broken and the armor was dented a bit. Now I was staring straight into both of their metallic faces with eyes lost behind tinted screens through a static barrier of purple.

"What was that? Did you just say something?" Bad Cop dared, taking a few quick steps forward. I already had him going. Great. So, why wasn't I shutting up? Eh, well, I was on this side of the cage. He couldn't reach me. If I were in better condition I could get him riled up enough to let me out. I had planned to just do whatever these soldiers wanted, but they wouldn't get me any sort of medical help either way. Besides, if they got what they wanted from me now, then they wouldn't need me anymore, which meant I'd end up on milk cartons. So, change of plans. I'd get some entertainment from it anyway.

"Hm. I don't know, did I? My ears are still buzzing from your overly obnoxious voice." I smiled innocently, fluttering my lashes. I could've sworn I heard the other Sith stifle a snicker as clearing his throat.

"Cut the bantha before you're sent to the torture compartment! They would absolutely relish having a Republic soldier in there. I hear they've been quite bored. You'd be there for days at a time, or even weeks if they found new methods specifically for you." He all but hissed, coming as close to my face as possible without being shocked. The sneer was palpable in his voice. Pushing back a rush of terror, knowing it flickered across my face for a moment, I wondered if I could actually get him to stick his nose into a force field and nearly laughed at the image of him having a seizure. "Wipe that smirk off of your face, while you're at it, or I'll do it for you! Trust me, you wouldn't like that." I complied after a second and he backed away a bit. The interrogator wasn't the one with the real power, they were the ones who needed something and had no way of getting it unless the interrogated complied…I watched stuff on television sometimes, darn it.

"Who's to say I'm a Republic soldier?"

"Didn't I tell you not to play dumb?!" He spun on his coworker, "Valan, speak up already! Fool...! This is supposed to be your interrogation, not mine."

"Y-Yes, Sir. Er," Valan stepped up next to the Sith and paused for a minute, scrutinizing me and just looking uncomfortable in general, "We'd be happy to patch up your wounds and let you go, but we'll need information from you in exchange, if you have it. You crashed into Taris during the recent space battle, didn't you? We found you in the wreckage of a Republic fighter about a day ago. It's true you are young, but with such tough times we came to the conclusion that they were desperate enough to enlist a child."

"Pushy, pushy. Fine, then, if it'll make you happy, I'm a Republic soldier. So, you need me, then, don't you?" You'd better. "I might just tell you what you need to know."

Merely an exchanged look from both of them and no comment toward what I said. The bad cop stepped forward once more and took a different approach.

"Tell us where Bastila is. If you don't, not only you, but your fellow soldiers will pay dearly for resistance." I simply shrugged, then spazzed and stopped midway. Good thing they didn't know where she was on Taris, at least. Did they even know she was alive in the game? Or that Republic soldiers were alive.

"…All of them? You're lying. They're dead. I'm the last one. Bastila…? I'll tell you on one condition."

"How about you tell us and we don't slice you into ribbons?"

An awkward paused ensued as I stood my ground and stared, pondering my options as panic's hand jammed its way down my throat.

"You w-wouldn't dare." I looked at the floor, breaking eye contact as my voice broke, trying to strengthen it. "I won't be any good to anyone cut into a million pieces."

"Oh, but I would dare, girl."

Valen finally cut in. The armored Sith took a few apprehensive paces forward. How he ever got into the Sith was anyone's guess. "If-if I may, Sir, I'd like to take over this interrogation. It is mine, after all, not yours. The torture chamber won't be necessary for this, either…We reserve that for the worst of cases, not young recruits. If the Republic were to catch on…"

"I…The paperwork would be quite the mess, wouldn't it?" His tone took on a thoughtful manner "I suppose I can...I'll let you take it from here. Just don't let the little brat get away with anything." He sent a loathing look at me and I flipped him off as he sauntered through a door to the side. Valen snorted again and my eyebrows shot up.

"What are you even with the Sith for, Valen?"

"The same reason as anyone, kid." A dismal undercurrent wormed its way into his tone. "Credits. Taris is a rough place. I couldn't find work anywhere else, and the Sith? One decent thing can be said about them, they pay well."

"There are other ways, you know. I know of someone that could teach you paazak." Mission Vao, looking at you. "Or combat." Revan. "Heck, wanna learn how to speak sandpeople language?" HK-47. Considering you won't rip me limb from limb. "There are always other options."

"Not on Taris, there aren't. I don't think you understand. It's brutal here. I can barely scrounge up a meal a day for my family thanks to owing Davik Kang. He's a, uh, local crime lord."

"Ah, that intergalactic jerk? How much do you even owe?" Maybe I could make a deal.

"Woah, now. Look, I'm really not sure that I should be talking about this…You're the one being questioned." I resisted the urge to wave my hand and order him to spill his guts.

"What have you got to lose in telling me? If what I've heard so far is correct, I'll be here for days. You have plenty of time to crack me wide open. Why not just tell me what your problem is? I might really be able to help you out here." My eyes darted around the confining purple space. "Well, maybe not in here, but later, once I'm out of this stupid thing. Would it kill you to make these a little bigger? I'll lose circulation in my legs eventually and end up having to gnaw them off. It won't be a pretty sight."

"Erm…Good to know. I'll have to take that complaint to the customer satisfaction desk later."

I actually laughed out loud for the first time since getting here and then pulled a weird face, like I'd been chewing a lemon. What was I doing? This fraternizing had better help me later. I shook my head and then chuckled in a weaker fashion.

"So, how much do you owe Davik then?" I titled my head, trying to look more interested. I sort of was, considering how boring it was just standing here.

"It's…ten thousand credits, and he'll let my little girl out of the Undercity." He choked on the words, like the very image smacked him in the face. Oh. I felt bad about trying to manipulate him before I remembered I was the one who was captured and held against my will. "She's been down there for a year now. My eldest missed her so much..." He broke off. "I can't let her live like that because of my debt. I-I have to do something. Anything it takes."

"What if I could help you? That paazak player I was talking about earlier could easily sneak her out of the Undercity and one is actually probably going to end up killing the crime lord, it's-"

"Thanks for the offer, but I truly doubt you could help. Davik Kang's incredibly powerful. He controls basically everything on Taris." He paused for a moment. "Do you need to find the refresher room? Captives are allowed two visits a day."

"That would be nice." I didn't really have to use the bathroom. He found a control panel on the left corner of a wall and started tapping away on it like it was a keyboard. The force field around me shimmered, humming one last time before it disappeared totally. I stretched my arms out, hearing them pop as I took an experimental step out of my usual boundary. Valen walked closely beside me as we headed to the door on the right.

"Just please don't try any-ARGH!" My right foot planted in the padded area of his armor after I angled my body and he fell to his knees, clutching at the metal panels below with a CLANK sound. I wasted no time and as he tried to grab the blaster at his belt while propping up on one knee. I stomped on his hand, kneeing up to hit his chin, foot slamming into his chest after. Ooh, that hurt! My face scrunched up and I ground my teeth. Pain exploded in my knee and spread to a dull ache all over my dominant limb. I staggered back, taking a shallow, shaky breath, clutching at my rib with a curled fist. He flew backwards a foot or so, metal clanking as his back hit the ground, blaster skidding. My eyes widened as his fingertips turned over and reached for the weapon about a foot away. While he was straining for it I gathered my senses and rocketed to his side, grinding his hand with an armored boot and ignoring his grunt of pain. A stinging sensation shot up my side. I caught him square in the face with my other foot, hearing a crack and a slam as his body was thrown back and then just stayed there, still as a stone. I stood and stared a moment, hands shaking. My stomach dropped. I swallowed painfully. What had I done? The words echoed in my void brain. He hadn't even tried to hit me, he'd just defended himself…I stooped down on my haunches, hand outstretching at a snail's pace, holding my breath to check his pulse. Thump, thump, thump…I sat back in relief, swaying from my haunches. I sat for a moment in blessed silence, turning the blaster he was reaching for over in my palms. It felt hard and cold to the touch, my fingers barely reaching around the diameter, but still able to pull the trigger, though just barely. It was a bit big for one hand but I could make it work. I hurried to the door in the back, the tiny storage space I remembered to be an armory and when I waved my hand in front of the doors, they slid open to reveal a bundle of plasteel cylinders with a pile of grenades, blasters, and a few armor sets heaped messily next to them on the floor. I dug through the pile to find a smaller version of the blaster I had stolen from Valen and what I could only identify as a syringe filled with clear, goopy liquid, still packaged of course. So help me, if it was a tranquilizer…I ripped it from it's packaging to stab it into my upper arm, through a chink in my bodysuit, feeling a pinch before complete and total relief spread over my body. Woah. I glanced down to watch my skin basically repair itself, extremely slowly, but still visibly. So that was what kolto did? I stuffed a few more syringe packets into my breastplate just as a few shrieking alarms started to go off.


End file.
